3d6 vs. 1d20

When rolling an Attack, players may choose to roll 3d6 in place of 1d20.

The following results are used:

⚀⚀⚀

1/216 chance

automatic miss.

If the power has the keyword "weapon" or "implement" you drop the appropriate item;

If not (or if not possible) you fall prone.

⚀⚀⚁ /

⚀⚀⚂ / ⚀⚁⚁

1/24 chance

automatic miss.

⚁⚁⚁

roll 1d2 and add that to the attack

⚂⚂⚂

roll 1d3 and add that to the attack

⚃⚃⚃

roll 1d4 and add that to the attack

⚄⚄⚄

roll 1d5 and add that to the attack

⚃⚅⚅ / ⚄⚄⚅

1/36 chance

automatic hit.

If the attack would have hit anyway, replace [W] rolls with their maximum (crit).

⚄⚅⚅

1/72 chance

automatic hit.

If the attack would have hit anyway, add maximum [W] damage (high crit).

If high crit weapon, add it again.

⚅⚅⚅

1/216 chance

automatic hit.

If the power deals damage, add maximum [W] damage (high crit).

If the attack would have hit anyway, add it again

If high crit weapon, add it again again.

If not: use the effect progression

This grants you approximately the same 1/20 chance of critical success or failure in your attacks – actually it's a little lower, 1/21.6, but the rewards and punishments are scaled to compensate.

Effect Progression

The progression for negative effects is essentially:

pushed/pulled/slid

slowed

⇓

↓

prone

immobilised

⇘

⇙

dazed

↓

stunned

↓

unconscious

⇓

¿ damage ?

However it can be tweaked based on particular powers. For example, "immobilised" may be upgraded to "restrained". Not to mention blinded, deafened, dominated, weakened, etc.

The progression for positive effects is trickier, and can be divided into three parallel progressions, each of which can lead to any of the others in various circumstances:

cover

lightly obscured

concealment

↓

↓

↓

superior cover

heavily obscured

total concealment

↓

↓

↓

insubstantial

totally obscured

invisble

Chance to Hit

Note that when rolling 3d6, the chance to hit a monster may be dramatically reduced. You can see in the following graph that: if you need to roll better than 11 to hit a monster, you're much better off rolling 1d20 than 3d6. This can play into combat, for example players making knowledge checks to determine what to roll, or learning by experience.

Taking this graph into account you may choose to instead use 3d6 + 2, which lets you hit anything that requires up to 15 as easily as 1d20, and lower monsters (up to around 12) much more easily. Given that, in this system, 18, 19, and 20 are variously critical hits, this means that you only suffer against monsters that require 15, 16, or 17 to hit... and you should probably flee such an encounter anyway.